GB1324353A - Method of and apparatus for making a rigid road which has a textured surface - Google Patents

Abstract

1324353 Grooving road surfaces CEMENT & CONCRETE ASSOCIATION 12 Aug 1970 [15 Aug 1969] 40840/69 Heading E1G A machine for making a pattern of anti-skid grooves in a concrete road surface prior to setting of the concrete comprises a gantry formed from box-section steel members 11 and supported by flanged wheels 12 on rails (13, Fig. 1, not shown) arranged along either side of the laid concrete, a carriage which carries a reversible motor 25 for driving supporting rollers 31 and guiding rollers 33 of the carriage for movement, along a track rail 32 and a pair of guiding rails 34, respectively, flanges of the guiding rollers 33 engaging in the gap 35 between the rails 34, a beam 43 suspended by stretched spiral springs 44 from a beam 41 on the underside of the carriage, the beam being adapted to float upon the wet concrete and carrying a groove-forming arrangement 70, and a rotating shaft carrying eccentric masses journalled in the beam,-the shaft being driven by a motor 50 to cause vibration of the beam. In use the beam 43 is lowered by hydraulic jacks 42, connected between the beam 41 and a scissors linkage 48, on to the surface of the wet concrete at, one side of the roadway and motor 50 is operated to vibrate the beam 43, the vibrating movements being restrained by chains 60 connecting it to inverted U frames 40 secured to the beam 41. Motor 25 is then driven to traverse the carriage across the roadway so that the beam 43 is floated across the surface of the wet concrete to form a set of transverse grooves. The beam 43 is then lifted by the jacks 42, the gantry is moved along the roadway, by operating motors 15 driving two of the wheels 12, until the beam 43 is over a fresh area of wet concrete, and the process is then repeated except that, after the beam 43 has again been lowered on to the concrete, motor 25 is operated in the reverse direction to traverse the carriage back to its starting position. The grooves thus formed are at right angles to the direction of the road, but may be made oblique to this direction by suitable design of the gantry. By using two gantries arranged one behind the other two sets of oblique grooves crossing each other may be formed. The machine may be coupled to a road-making train.